Spinal adjustment device



June 11, 1940- F. E. scHusTx-:R Er A1. 2,204,259

SPINAL ADJUSTMENT DEVICE Filed July 22, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 11,1940. F. E. scHUsTER ET AL 2,204,259,

SPINL ADJUSTMENT DEVICE Filed July 22, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aiv www

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 11, 1940 UNITED STATES SPINAL ADJUSTMENT DEVICE Fred E.Schuster, Cincinnati, and Homer E. Paul, Sharonville, Ohio ApplicationJuly 22, 1937, Serial No. 155,070

3 Claims.

This invention relates to vertebral adjusters andlmore particularly to"an appliance designed for use by chiropractors in adjusting subluxationsof the vertebrae by manual application to a patient by the practitioner.

The principal object of our invention is to provide an electricallydriven vertebral adjuster havlng adjustable means therein to control theamount of force used in making vertebral adjustments.

Another object of our invention is to provide a vertebral adjusterhaving a trigger-actuated means therein for controlling the impact offorce to be delivered against the vertebrae of a patient.

A further object of our invention is to provide a vertebral adjusterhaving superior driving, controlling, and impact means therein for theadjustment of vertebrae.

These and other objects are attained by the means described herein anddisclosed in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing in elevation a deviceembodying the invention and showing details of the Working mechanism 25thereof.

Fig. 2 is a top plan elevation of the cam lifter mechanism, forming adetail of the invention.

Fig.l3 is an enlarged cross-sectional View of parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of a section of the shaft showing the torqueimparting grooves therein.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation showing the relation between the trigger andcam lifting mechanism.

Our appliance comprises a-hollow housing I0, with a pistol grip handleII formed' integral therewith and set at a convenient angle thereto. Amotor I2 is mounted beneath housing I0, and anozzle I3 extends forwardlyfrom housing I0 andfis formed integral therewith.

On the upper surface of the grip II, an electrical switch'l4 may beattached by any suitable means such as screws not shown and anelectricalfconductor I6 is attached to the switch I4 and extends intothe housing I8 and passes through an aperture I1 in the base of housingI and is connected to the motor I2. The conductor I6 enters `the grip IIthrough an aperture 22 in the base thereof.

In the lower surface of the grip I I, an opening I8 is provided for thereception of a trigger lever I9 which may be pivoted to the grip I I bymeans of a pin 20 extending through grip II. Attached to the rearportion of trigger I9is a tension spring 2I.` 'I'he one end of thespring is xed relative to the interior surface of the grip, and normally'urges the trigger I9 outward from the pistol grip.

Pivotally attached to an arm 23 of trigger I9 by means of a pin 24, is alatch member 25 having a lug 2G at lthe upper portion thereof. Acompression spring 21 is attached to the latch member 25 and to the arm23 of trigger lever I9 and normally urges the latch member 25 to aforward position.

An offset plate 28 is attached to the interior surface of housingy IU byany suitable means. A channel 280 is provided in plate 28 through whicha release pin 29 extends and projects therefrom. Pivotally attached tothe middle of plate 2B is a cam lifter lever arm 30 which is pivotedthereto by means of a pin 3l. 'I'he cam, lifter extends rearwardly andhas a notch 32 at its upper rear end which is adapted to engage with thelug 25 of latch member 25 when the latch member is` moved into a forwardposition. A spring 33 is attached. to the cam lifter 38 and to theoffset plate 28 and normally urges the cam lifter downwardly from theoffset plate.

In the middle of housing Ii), a plurality of bearings 34 are providedrespectively in the in- `ner surfaces of the upper and lower portions ofhousing lll. A drive shaft 35 having `a key 36 thereon is rotatablymounted in bearings 34. Rotatably mounted on the lower portion of shaft35 is a slotted gear 31 whichy is driven by the gear 38 on the end of ashaft 39 extending upward from motor I2 which is secured to housing I0by means of screws 4U extending through the base of housing I0 and intothe motor housing I2. Rotatably mounted above the gear 31 is a cam 4Ihaving an upwardly extending collar42 and a release lug 43 integrallyformed therewith. The central bore of cam 4I has a keyway extendingtherethrough which slidably engages with the key 36 on drive shaft 35.Slidably engaging in the collar 42 of cam 4I are the two arms 44 of camlifter lever 3D whose connection with the actuating trigger I9 has beenpreviously set forth.

Within the nozzle I3 is a slidably mounted impact shaft 45 having alongitudinal groove 46 on lthe periphery thereof and an oblique orspiral groove 41 extending substantially lengthwise of the impact shaft45 but inclining in opposite directions from the groove 46. Aiiixed toimpact shaft 45 near its rear end is a collar 48 `while a spring 49surrounds the shaft 45 and abuts against collar 48 and the end of abearing or bushing 50 within nozzle I3, and the spring urges the shaftin` a rearward direction.

A pin I passes through an aperture 52 in nozzle I3 and is held thereinby means of a spring member 53 which is attached tothe nozzle I3 byanysuitable means. The pin 5I extends into the groove'46 or theA pin maybe set in the oblique grooves 41 thereby imparting a right or left handtorque to the impact shaft-.45 when the appliance is operated.

A sleeve 54, one end of which is exteriorly screw threaded, is keyed toimpact shaft 45, by key 55, and is slidably movable therewith and oneend of the sleeve 54 may be inserted into the nozzle I3 and it extendsforwardly therefrom. In screw threaded engagement with sleeve 54, is aninteriorly screw-threaded` housing tip 56 having a nipple 51 upon itsclosed end. A rubber tip 58 may be attached to the nipple 5l' by anysuitable means. Upon the forward end of impact shaft 45 and aixedthereto is a collar 59 which is adapted y to bear against a spring 55which is placed within housing 56 and is positioned between the collar5S and the interior of the head of the tip housing 56. rIhe relativeposition of housing tip 55 upon sleeve 54, controls the degree ofcompression of spring 5i] and thus the relative force with which rubbertip 58 operates on a patients vertebrae may be controlled. To lessen theforce of operation of tip 58 the tip housing 55 should be positioned sothat it is only in engagement with several of the threads on sleeve 54.On the other hand, when it is desired to increase the impact of tip 58,the tip housing 56 should be screwed well down onto sleeve 54- wherebyspring 65 is compressed so that less of the impact of impact drive shaft45 will be absorbed.

In operating our improved vertebral adjuster, the rubber tip 53 isplaced against the patients vertebrae. The operator then closes switchla thus starting the motor I2 and causing shaft 3Q, gears 31 and 38,shaft 35 and cam 4l to revolve therewith. When it is desired to actuatetip 53 in order to adjust a patients vertebrae, the trigger .IS ispushed in thereby causing the latch member 25 to move forward and thelug 25 thereon to dog or engage with the notch 32 on cam lifter levei130 and depressing the spring 33 and causing the cam lifter arms 45 'toraise the cam il on shaft 35 so that the cam will contact the drive`shaft 45 thus causing the tip 58 to move outward thereby adjusting thepatients vertebrae. When the shaft 35 has made one revolution, therelease lug 43 on cam iii strikes the release pin 29 in offset plate 28.The release pin is pushed backward by this action against the upper edgeof latch member 25 thereby disengaging lug 26 from notch. 32 andpermitting the cam lifter spring 33 to force the cam 4l downward onshaft 35. so that cam M will revolve on shaft 35 below the end of shaft45. In order to deliver another impact by tip 58 it is necessary for theoperator to rst release his grip on trigger I9 and permit it to moveforward and then push in the trigger I9 again when the next impact oftip 5B is desired thus again initiating the movement of parts asexplained above.

Our improved. vertebral adjuster provides a device which is light andportable. It is capable of making eflicient and thorough vertebraladjustments and by means of the shock absorbing spring in the tip andthe means for regulating the compression thereof, it is possib-le toregulate the degree of force applied to the tip 58.

Torque control of tip 58 is obtained by causing pin 5l to register withthe proper oblique grooves 5i whereby drive shaft 45 will be turnedwithin housing i3 as it is moved relative to pin 5l. Spring 53' retainspin 5| in proper alignment with a selected groove as 41 until such timeas a positive force is exerted by an operator to change such a setting.l

With the foregoing and other objects inV View,

the invention consists in the novel construction, combination andarrangement of parts above described and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings wherein is shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, butit is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can beresorted to which come within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vertebral adjusting appliance, a housing having a forwardlyextending nozzle and a hand grip portion formed integrally therewith, animpact drive shaft extending through said nozzle, resilient meansdisposed adjacent each end of said shaft for limiting its travelrelative to said housing, a resilient tip operatively associated withone end of said impact shaft, means disposed intermediate of said impactshaft for imparting a torque thereto, impact shaft actuating meansdisposed rearward of said shaft,

` said actuating means comprising a motor driven cam slidably mounted ona cam shaft, means for maintaining said cam in a non-engagingrelationship with the rear end of said impact shaft, and triggeractuated means for sliding said cam upon its shaft to engage the rearend of said impact shaft and release means for returning said cam backto a non-engaging relationship with said impact shaft after onerevolution of said cam, whereby said impact shaft is actuated but onceeach time said trigger is pulled.

2. In a vertebral adjustment appliance, a housing having a forwardlyextending nozzle and a hand grip portion formed integrally therewith,electrical driving means operatively associated with said housing, animpact shaft extending through said nozzle, means disposed adjacent eachend of said shaft for limiting its motion relative to said housing, adriven mechanism in said housing operatively associated with andcontinuously driven by said driving means, a trigger, said triggeroperatively associated with said driven mechanism for causing saidmechanism to impart one blow per revolution to said impact shaft,release means operatively associated with said driven mechanism Vwherebyonly one blow may be imparted to the impact shaft for each movement ofsaid trigger, and a resilient tip associated with the free end of saidimpact shaft for contacting a patients vertebrae.

3. In combination with a vertebral adjusting appliance, an adjustabletip member which is capable of being adjusted to impart blows of varyingforce, which appliance comprises a hollow interiorly threaded tiphousing closed at one end, a hollow sleeve in threaded engagement withsaid tip housing, an impact shaft slidably mounted within said sleeveand extending into said tip housing where it terminates in an annularcoilar, a shock absorbing spring disposed Within said tip housingbetween said collar and the closed end of said housing whereby the forceimparted to said tip housing is proportional to the total forcedelivered by said impact shaft as modified by the shock absorbingspring, the degree of shock absorbed being adjustable by varying therelationship between said tip housing and its associated sleeve, and aresilient tip being attachedto the forward end of said tip housing forcontact upon a patients vertebrae.

FRED IE. SCHUSTER. HOMER E. PAUL.

